ROADRUNNER CAMPOUT AT WHITE TANKS PARK MARCH 2012

Our 45 year old camping group is still enjoying outings. Beginning March 30 four families joined in their RVs at the Maricopa County White Tanks Mountain Park on the far west side of the Phoenix metropolitan area. The weather was sunny, with comfortable temperatures on Friday, warming to 90 on Saturday with typically cool nights. During the warmer parts of the day we found shade and the breezes kept us comfortable. Barbara and Mike Williams were the wagonmasters, for their first time.

 

 

Friday evening around the campfire: Barbara, Jeff, Herb and Mary Fust

 

Nancy Audet, me, Jo, Mike and Barbara Williams, the Wagonmasters

 

We had a good sized fire pit. Thanks to Tom Lull for the wood and Mike for hauling it

  

Jeff and I walked up the Waterfall Trail to the falls with lots of others, including a boy scout troop.

 

Lots of petroglyphs are beside the trail. We can only speculate about their meaning.

  

More petroglyphs.

 

  

The falls – the dark vertical areas show where the water is tricking down the falls and the white rocks in the shadow probably have been colored by the water.

 

 

Jeff at the pool (white tank) at the bottom of the falls.

Here is the proof that I made it to the falls, with my walking sticks.

  

The trail passes the old water tank at the center and becomes steeper as hikers approach the falls. Hikers are seen near the metal tank.

 

 

Nancy Audet, Herb and Mary Fust are awaiting the potluck dinner on Saturday.

 

Left to right, Nancy and Bob Audet, Fusts, and Chrissy Audet enjoying the potluck.

Cabo San Lucas, March, 2012

Jo and I had two timeshare weeks in Cabo San Lucas,Mexico, beginning March 5, 2012. The first was at Pueblo Bonito  Sunset Beach on the Pacific Ocean outside the town. The second week was near downtown at Pueblo Bonito Los Cabos, often called Blanco as it is painted white. The Los Cabos airport is about a 2 hour flight from Phoenix Sky Harbor airport.

We were able to pack our carryons with adequate clothing for two weeks as much of our time is spent lounging around a swimming pool in a bathing suit, reading and sipping beverages! The timeshare units, both junior suites, had a small kitchen so we could have breakfast and lunch in the room after we obtained groceries at the local Walmart!

I neglected to pack a digital camera, so these were taken in a single use camera!

 

This is the view from our balcony at Sunset Beach. From it we often could see whales and their spouts. For three days the sport fishing boats congregated directly in front of the resort.

 

Looking northwest from our balcony. The white spots  are fishing boats. The building on the beach right of center is a mansion!

Here is most of the Sunset Beach resort from the wide beach. Our unit was in the center high building three floors down from the top and on the left side of the center entry. Next year we hope to be in a building on the beach.

 

Jo at a rocky outcrop with the Pedrigal subdivision of high end homes in the background.

One of the more picturesque sunsets while we were there.

 

Bougainvilleas were blooming profusely during our visit.

The key to getting guests around the large resort built on a steep hill is these golf cart paths. The propane fueled carts have a short turning radius and can hold 7 passengers plus the driver. The carts run so often there usually is only a short wait for the next one if you do not want to walk to your destination.

The Sky Pool is actually two pools at different levels. We preferred the lower one as it usually was less crowed and farther from the swim up bar and the music playing constantly.

This is the beach for Blanco where we stayed the second week. Our stay was early in Spring Break, and three cruise ships were in this day. We are on Medano Bay which is appropriate for swimming and other water sports.

Blanco from Medano beach with lounges in the foreground. We spent most of our lounging time here around the pool.

We had a nice evening cruise on this catamaran. The ticket included a Mexican dinner and open bar. This cruise was one of at least five every night and was much more sedate than others we have taken!

The arch and Lands End are in the background.

 

A favorite activity is to walk around the marina to admire the yachts tied up there. This  is one of the larger ones.The marina now is fully developed and is crammed with boats.

The Giggling Marlin is one of the famous night spots in downtown Cabo. Cabo Wabo is across the street and Squid Row is a couple of blocks away, as is a Hard Rock Cafe.

CELEBRATING ARIZONA’S CENTENNIAL AS A STATE FEBRUARY 14, 2012, WITH A RIDE ON THE GRAND CANYON RAILWAY

We drove to Williams AZ with Jo’s sister and brother-in-law, Barbara and Mike Williams, on Feb 13 to ride the Grand Canyon RY up to the Grand Canyon on February 14. The railroad had a special offer for the day we could not refuse! The 1912 price for the round trip ride was $7.50, and that was the price for our centennial  trip. The ride was a sellout, with 1200 passengers in 12 coaches, including all of its Pullman-built coach cars made in 1923. The railroad could not add any more cars to the train for lack of passenger loading and unloading track length at both ends. There was snow on the ground at both ends of the trip.

 

  

Here is the interior of our coach. Mike Williams is in the lower right corner.

 

 

To help passengers while away the time in the 2:15 hour ride, the road ordinarily provides musicians walking through the cars.

 

 

As we neared the Grand Canyon, the snow became deeper with the increasing  elevation. The train was pulled by a steam locomotive helped by two diesel units.

 

Two of the road’s newer higher fare cars brought up the rear of the train, here unloading at the Grand Canyon Depot.

 

Our first stop was the main dining room at the historic El Tovar hotel for a gourmet lunch. I am at the left, with Jo, Barbara and Mike Williams, and Jerry and Nancy Grout.

 

 

Our 3:15 hour layover gave us time to walk along the rim of the canyon to take in interesting sights as the high clouds created moving patterns in the canyon.

 

The long Bright Angel Canyon comes south from the north rim to meet the Colorado River in its inner gorge. I watched snow flurries making their way down the side canyon.

 

 

 

Snow flurries from scattered clouds are spreading over the Grand Canyon, blocking the view of upper Bright Angel Canyon.

 

We had the opportunity at Grand Canyon to get a good look at the motive power for our train.This was the first revenue run for steam locomotive 4960, a 2-8-2 Mikado,  after a major overhaul in the Grand Canyon Railway shop in Williams.

 

 

The two diesel units helping the steamer were made by EMD and were built for AMTRAK.

 

  

Members of the Winslow AZ Harvey Girls Club provided special entertainment on our trip by giving kisses (Hershey) to the passengers.

 

 

The last entertainment was a train robbery, done on every trip made by the GCRY.

 

We returned the Valley on Feb. 15 via Chino Valley and Prescott. A group of school children was at the Yavapai County Courthouse which featured a display of a new postage stamp celebrating the Arizona centennial.

JEEPERS CREEPERS FEBRUARY 2, 2012, TRIP TO VERDE RIVER

Our announced destination was the east end of Sheep Bridge via the road on the east side of the Verde River. Those on the outing were Trail leaders Jerry and Nancy Grout with guest Elsie Tennant, Mike and Barbara Williams with Marv and Marsha Jeck as passengers, Bill and Jo Strong, and Sid and Maxine White with guests  Jerry and Maxine Walters.

 

Sheep bridge originally was built by sheep raisers who herded their flocks from the Phoenix valley area to high country for the summer and back in the fall to winter in the Valley. The main trail crossed the Verde River, and the bridge was built to avoid mortality of sheep in crossing. The original suspension bridge became weakened with age and the State built a new steel suspension bridge a few years ago. This year, for the first time, no herder is driving sheep to the high country. Now they are bring trucked. Sheep Bridge probably will never see another sheep!

 

  

 

From the Horseshoe Dam road, Jerry found the road to ford the Verde River a couple of miles south of Horseshoe Dam. As we crossed this body of flowing water, we all thought that the crossing was a “piece of cake”. But then we encountered the second crossing below, not so easy. No driver had the intestinal fortitude to try to cross it. There was too much water flowing too fast.

 

 

 

So we turned around and visited Horseshoe Dam. There was no water behind the dam; all of the Verde River was being allowed to flow through to be stored in Bartlett Lake downstream a few miles.

 

 

 

 

 

  

Our lunch stop was in a broad wash off the Horseshoe Dam road. It is amazing how fast we can get a fire going and set up the tables for the potluck lunch.

 

Here is a wider view of our lunch stop.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

In the lower left is a Crowned Saguaro, said to be rare. Something has happened to the plant so that instead of growing taller, more growth causes the top to spread out.

 

 

After returning to the Bartlett Dam road we headed toward Carefree, to turn off and drive down the Camp Creek wash a few miles. When we reached the bottom, here was a developed area (Needle Rock)on the Verde River. This is very popular in the summertime for water recreation. This time of year the water is far too cold for wading. From here we continued south through the Ft. McDowell reservation to Bush Highway and home to Mesa.

ROADRUNNER VISIT TO QUARTZSITE JANUARY 27 - 29

The MFC Roadrunner camping group was formed in 1966. The group went camping once a  month for many years, usually to undeveloped campsites for dry camping. Lucy and I joined in 1966 when we had our green Volkswagen Westphalia camper. Over the years members’ equipment migrated from tents and tent trailers to trailers and finally to motor homes. Anyone with any kind of equipment was and is welcome to join.

In recent years enough members are on the road with their RVs in the summer that there are no regular summer campouts. Now our largest annual outing is at Quartzsite AZ during the RV show period in January. In the winter thousands of RVers gather around Quartzsite to camp, some for many weeks, on the nearby BLM land or in RV parks in the area. There are lots of vendors booths selling a wide variety of wares. The area looks like a very large swap meet. 

A gem and mineral show is held there annually, with many vendors having permanent buildings for selling their minerals. This year Jo bought a cut stone  which a friend has cut and finished into earrings and two pendants.

 Our main socializing is around an evening campfire. This year, as in many earlier years, we were joined by a group of machinists from the Phoenix area who are friends with some of our Roadrunner members. There were 45 in our extended group in all. I will identify just the Roadrunners in the below pictures.

 

Second and third from left are Greg and Cheryl See, the hosts of the outing.

 

Jo’s son, Jeff Clyde, is at far right.

 

 

 

Beginning second from left, Jeff, Jo, Mike Williams, Barbara Williams and Maxine Stone.

 

The red lines appear to be fast-flying sparks from the fire. In the center are Gayle and Bill Kaml. Gale and her sister, Cheryl See, are daughters of one of the founders of the Roadrunners, Hamilton Bushie. Ham  loved large campfires, and he often threw enough wood on a fire to make one with flames five feet high. Such a fires became known as Bushie fires. Our fire at Quartzsite resembled a Bushie Fire!